Apple iPhone 5s, 5c: Pros And Cons

Apple's new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c make a lot of advances, but they also left a lot of technology out.

iPhone 5s

The Apple iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c are exactly what everyone expected to see from Apple at its press event Tuesday. The 5s is a significantly upgraded version of the iPhone 5, while the 5c is a lower-cost model meant to round out Apple's product range. Both include 4-inch Retina displays and improved cameras.

The 5s is the first device to ship from Apple with the company's A7 64-bit processor. It will be sold in three colors (silver, slate and gold), and includes a fingerprint scanner for security. The iPhone 5c is the first iPhone to use plastic in its design since the 3GS, and it comes in five colors (white, pink, blue, green and yellow). Storage options for both range from 16 GB to 64 GB, and pricing ranges from $99 for the cheapest iPhone 5c to $399 for the most expensive iPhone 5s (with a new, two-year contract, of course).

Despite the advancements offered by both devices, Apple continues to leave today's bleeding-edge technology out of the iPhone. Here are a few things missing that are offered by competing products.

--NFC: Near-field communications is a short-range radio technology that has a number of uses. For example, it can be used to automatically pair to Bluetooth devices, or to make mobile tap-and-go payments. Most of today's leading smartphones, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, HTC One and LG G2, include NFC. Without it, Apple's iPhones will be unable to participate in mobile payment systems. Why Apple has shied away from this standardized technology is a mystery.

-- Wireless Charging: Apple continues to ignore wireless charging technology. With it, smartphone owners can place their device on a (plugged-in) charging pad. The pad then uses magnetic induction to pass a charge to the smartphone's battery. It is possible that Apple will leave this alone until it is fully standardized. Right now, three industry groups are groping for supremacy. That said, other smartphone makers, including Samsung, LG and Nokia, are including wireless charging in their devices.

-- HD Screen: Never mind how small the puny 4-inch diagonal display is on the iPhone 5s and 5c, neither screen has the ability to play full HD content. Almost all the new flagship devices announced this year, such as the One, GS4 and G2, have screens with 1920 x 1080 pixels. That makes them able to play the same high-definition content you watch on your television. Apple's iPhones stick to a non-standard 1136 x 640 pixel resolution that is incompatible with even 720p HD content, let alone 1080p.

-- Customization: As with all prior iPhones, there is no way to get inside the iPhone 5s or 5c. That means no support for additional storage in the form of microSD cards, nor a user-replaceable battery. Apple will likely never offer an iPhone with these options. If you like being able to keep a spare battery or extra memory card around, the iPhone is not for you.

This has been around for years -I use it currently on a N9.The whole intent is to sabotage thru litigation and other meansany cross platform support. I swear if they made cars they would make a stupid patent for rubber tires.( this is not about their phone or its quality)You want to support this?

The interesting thing here is the M7 is what Apple calls a "motion co-processor." i am not sure but its job is to deal with data coming from sensors without activating the full power of the A&, further it may help saving battery life and other one is that they got an Arm v8 instruction set-based processor into production.

The files are still 720p if you move them to, say, a PC. As one of the other posters pointed out, Apple doesn't put HD screens on its iPhones because at this screen size, the extra pixels don't add anything to the image. The 120 fps option is very cool, though. Wish Apple had gone ahead with 60 fps at 1080p too.

I agree with the people who aren't that bothered by the NFC exception; like some others, I think Apple has its own plans, and it's not really missing out in the meantime.

I'm surprised people aren't more irked by Siri. I think both of the new iPhones look pretty terrific overall, but Apple has really failed to bring Siri along. For me, that's one of the bigger bummers. Apple got the mobile interaction model right, but perceptual computing technologies are going to be a big part of future interaction models. Apple seemed to have a head start here, but no longer.

For those who are more interested in the Enterprise implications of Apple's announcement, you might enjoy this info-parady on "The Apple Event for the Enterprise that never happened"http://www.slideshare.net/Moov...

So this is all Apple had to come up with? At Aroper-VEC when you purchased your first Iphone or Ipod it was what no one else was doing. So to make that comment makes no sense. Apple better find a innovator and quick.

I find this curious because it creates HD movies in 720p, at a frame rate of 120 - a big selling point of the new iPhone.

As far as Near-field communications (NFC) go, maybe Apple already has something else in place. The new fingerprint touch feature was touted as an easy way to instantly let you buy things through the iTunes store and it seems this will be Apple's foot in the door for all sales via the iPhone.

And we should remember, or for those of you who are not really familiar with what Apple is doing, that they have an app that allows us to buy something in their stores, scan it, and pay for it without going to a sales person, or a counter. We can then walk out of the store with our purchase, unless we want a bag. Then we can ask a sales person for one.

This uses WiFi, and works very well. No need for NFC, and it works anywhere in the store. You don't need to go to a counter, and don't need a sales person. Much better. Apple doesn't even have sensors at the store exits.

I don't get the thing about "wireless charging". You need to buy the "wireless" charger, which, of course is wired to an outlet. Then it takes up a lot more space than the small charger that can be plugged into the wall socket. And is it really so much easier to put it down on to the surface of the charger rather than to plug the cord in? Not really! It's also less efficient, so some power is lost.

HD screen, really? That marketing ploy Samsung and a couple of others are using? It's been established that ppi counts more than about 320 can't be seen by the naked eye. These so called hi def displays are not helping at all. And if you want to watch the video on a real, large display, the iPhone can do that at full hi def.

More and more phones don't have a battery compartment. Those that do, do so because they have poor battery life. The iPhone has always had some of the best battery life, so it isn't really much of a problem. And if you really need a long, extended battery time, you can get a case that will double that life for little more than a battery, and won't need to change one sometime inconvenient.

Memory cards are another question. They may be useful, but you need to be carefulwhen buying them. The cheap ones slowdown the phone, and the fast ones are expensive. If you forget one, you're screwed.

Among 688 respondents, 46% have deployed mobile apps, with an additional 24% planning to in the next year. Soon all apps will look like mobile apps – and it's past time for those with no plans to get cracking.